


Pride

by robertstanion



Series: PEIPHQ Shenanigans [8]
Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid
Genre: Autistic!John McNamara, Clivesdale, Fluff ensues, June 1st, M/M, Pride Parades, hatchetfield, xander takes john to pride
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:08:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24488746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robertstanion/pseuds/robertstanion
Summary: Xander suggests taking John to his first pride parade. John agrees. What occurs in the middle of Clivesdale?
Relationships: John McNamara/Xander Lee
Series: PEIPHQ Shenanigans [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764349
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	Pride

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY JUNE 1ST and i know it isn't ideal about our current situations and with everything occurring as of now, but shits going to be happy in this fic and that's enough for us. MCNamanDer have gay rights.  
> -  
> No trigger warnings apply but the stimming is, as usual, based upon op now enjoy this fic i wrote it partially at 11 PM before andrew barth feldmans concert

June was approaching faster than he’d hoped. Yes, it was the 31st of May, and yes, the pride parades started on the 4th of June in Clivesdale, but nobody was prepared. Xander wished he could say he was, but he wasn’t, and neither was John. He regret his decision about going to pride as soon as he’d let the words spill from his mouth, but Xander had convinced him everything would be okay. He’d shown John previous pictures of himself at pride, and John was intrigued. He’d been nervous and looked away, holding Xander’s hand that little bit tighter, and Xander took a breath, turning to face him.

“Let me explain the day to you, okay?” He said and put his phone away. “We’re gonna wake up at 8, I’ll come and pick you up and I’ll drive you to the parades and shit. We’ll get there at 8:30, which is earlier than most in and around Hatchetfield, so there won’t be so much noise. Now, me and my friends signed up to participate in the parade a few months ago, but one of them had to drop out, which is unfortunate, so you can stay with me and I’ll keep you safe.”

“I can keep myself safe, Xander, that’s not what I’m worried about.”

“You’re worried about the noise and getting outed, aren’t you?” John nodded, not bothering to hide it as he pulled his hands away to light a cigarette. “Listen, John.” Xander said softly. “We can work our way around this. I’ve got ear defenders in my bag I always take to pride with me. It will be loud, and it will be crowded, but we can work our way around panic attacks. If you need to stand to the side, I’ll try and get you out of there, but I can’t make any promises.”

“Okay…” John said and bit down on the cigarette, leaning against Xander. “I did a stupid thing at work today.”

“And what would that be, darling?” Xander asked, wrapping his arm back around his boyfriend, and John scrunched his nose up momentarily, exhaling the smoke.

“I told Schaffer I had a girlfriend.”

“And what would this girlfriend’s name be?” Xander asked, raising an eyebrow, smirking.

“Take that smirk off of your face.” John rolled his eyes.

“It better not have been some white girls name like Mackaheheilay.”

“How the fuck did you pronounce that?” He asked and looked up to Xander. Xander shrugged.

“Answer my question, John. You’re avoiding the topic.”

John took another drag of the cigarette, breathing out as a sigh, light smoke filling the room before he spoke again. “Actually, it was Caroline.”

“Caroline.” Xander said and looked at him. “Okay, honey, I’m not criticising you at all, but when I was a kid, _not_ many people were called Xander. I know you wouldn’t date _anyone_ with a name as old-fashioned as Caroline.”

“I panicked, Xander. Don’t rub it in. It’s a hole I can’t dig myself out of.” He said and nuzzled into his boyfriend’s neck.

“Hey.” Xander said and kissed John’s hair. “If Schaffer finds out, because let’s admit it, she’s smart, she’s close with the both of us. She won’t tease us. Well, I know she won’t tease _you;_ I’ll be the victim. But she would never mock you. And neither would your team. I know your scared, I was scared when I told people about my sexuality, but it’ll be alright. I promise you. And not everybody is going to agree with our relationship, but at pride, nobody will hurt you, and if they do, they can speak through to me. But I won’t let you get hurt.” He said. “I know you’re scared. I’m not going to avoid that, and I’ll keep it in my mind while we’re there.” He pressed a kiss to John’s forehead. “I wouldn’t ask you to come with me if I knew it was dangerous.”

“Okay…” John sighed as he sat back up and looked at Xander, “But…what if I kissed you in public? And people knew about us?” He asked, his eyes slightly wide. Xander smiled.

“They’d be strangers. Nothing bad would happen. There will be people like us kissing. It’ll be okay.” He assured.

* * *

When the day came around, John was very nervous. He was second guessing everything, what he should be wearing, how he should fit in. He wanted to make a good impression to a group of strangers he probably wouldn’t ever see again. He only wanted to fit in, that was it. He needed to fit in. He could finally be in a group of people who would accept him for who he was. He’d finally find his people. It was 7:38 when there was a knock at his door. He groaned and trudged downstairs, opening the door, to see his boyfriend. John blinked. “Holy fuck.”

“Holy fuck indeed, John.” Xander grinned. “It’s the pride parade, and I always go full out. Now, let me in, and I’ll show you what’s in my bag for you.” He said and kissed John’s hair as he stepped to the side. Xander walked into the living room, John trailing after him.

“I knew you were going to go full out but…you are unrecognisable.” He laughed.

“In a good way or a bad way?”

“Honestly, I can’t tell.” He said and looked at Xander as he sat down. Xander was in a black vest top with a rainbow heart in the centre of it, and black shorts with rainbows down the sides. But what astounded John the most was how Xander had a flag around him as a cape and he was wearing rainbow makeup. “But you look hot.”

Xander laughed and helped John sit down as he pulled his bag on to his lap. “Alright, Mr McNamara. Keep it in your pants.” He said and opened the bag, pulling the items out. “So, as promised, here are your ear defenders slash noise cancelling headphones which shouldn’t send you into sensory overload while we’re there.” He said and placed them on the coffee table. “And if you ask, I got them custom made for you. They’ve got your initials and a small rainbow sticker on the headband of them, but on the underside.” He said, watching John flip them over. John smiled and turned back to Xander.

“Thank you.”

“It’s alright.” He said and pulled out the other items. “So we have water bottles we can refill, but I got you bottled water because I know you don’t like tap water, we’ve got our passes for the parade, I’ve got a camera so we can take pictures if you want and- oh! Yeah! Okay, I remembered you said you didn’t like glitter.”

“Glitter is the worst thing to ever touch my hands.” John snarled and Xander smiled.

“But I got this.” He said and pulled out a small bag.

“What’s that?” He asked, watching Xander open a small box. Xander smiled.

“Here, give me your wrist.”

“That doesn’t look safe.”

“It’s perfectly harmless, trust me.” He said and gently took John’s hand, flipping it over. Xander rubbed his finger on the product and swiped it across John’s wrist, a small rainbow in place. John tilted his wrist to watch the rainbow shine.

“Xander, there is a tiny rainbow on my wrist that wasn’t there before.” He said and Xander nodded.

“Yeah! I know you didn’t like glitter, but then I remembered I had this little thing. It’s called highlighter. It’s makeup, and you put it on your face-“

“You can put the tiny rainbow on your face?!” John said, looking to Xander, who nodded. “Xander, I want tiny rainbows on my face _all the time.”_ He said, deadly seriously. He smiled and pulled out a brush.

“Feel this brush first.” He said, so John took it and ran his thumb over it.

“It’s soft. Is that gonna put the rainbow on my face?”

“Yes, darling.” Xander said, moving to face John. He gently cupped John’s face and applied the highlighter to his nose and cheekbones. “Now you can be representing yourself without being obvious about it.”

“I feel much better.” He said and nestled into Xander. “So, what do _I_ wear?”

“Oh, honey.” Xander said and looked back down to him. “You wear clothes appropriate for warm weather. You don’t need to copy me; this is my usual attire. The cape is new, though. And the bag. _And_ the highlighter, but that was a mock gift my friend got me for Christmas.”

“Well, I’m glad your friends make fun of you and give you tiny makeup rainbows.” John said. “I’m going to get changed and then I’ll come back down and then we’re still gonna go?”

“That’s the plan.” Xander said and kissed his cheek.

“Okay!” John jumped up and rushed out of the room, running up the stairs. Xander laughed gently and waited for him to come back down. When he did, he was dressed in a white shirt and shorts, and that was enough for him. He was grinning and had his hair tied in a ponytail. “Let’s go!"

"Gosh, you _are_ excited.”

“Well, while I was getting changed, I realised that no matter what happens, you’ll be there, and you’re the only person who can stop my sensory overloads, and you’re also my boyfriend which is a bonus, and everything’s gonna be perfect!”

“That’s it!” Xander said and took his hand, putting his bag on his shoulder. “Now, I’ll drive us. Let’s go.”

* * *

They parked the car and John jumped out, bouncing on his heels and hitting his fists together. Xander could tell what this was, and he didn’t stop him. This was John stimming, and he did it when he got excited or anxious, but by the smile on his face and the bright look in his eyes, Xander could tell why. He got out the car himself and walked over to him. “John, you need to put your wristband on so we can go in.”

“No thank you.” He said, shaking his head.

“What do you mean?” Xander asked and John started stimming harder.

“I don’t like the fabric, it’s scratchy and I can’t have it on my wrist.”

“It’ll trigger your senses?” Xander asked and John nodded. Then Xander had the idea. “Why don’t we tuck it into your ponytail? Then you’re still wearing it, and we can go in.”

“Okay! But don’t mess up my hair because it took a while to get it perfect.” John said, continuing to stim as Xander threaded the wristband through the hair ties in John’s hair.

“Is it done? Can we go in yet?” John asked and Xander nodded.

“Yes, honey. Come on. Take my hand and stay with me.” They said and approached the gate to where they needed to get in. John explained to the person why he couldn’t wear the wristband on his wrist, and it was due to his autism and his sensory issues, and they got let in anyway. John took them both to the side and Xander watched John taking in the full scene. “What do you think?” He asked. It was relatively quiet, but John seemed mesmerised.

“So many rainbows…” He laughed as he looked around. “So, this is just…one massive party for the gays?”

“Pretty much, John. It’s a celebration for us and who we are and everything we fought for. This is our safe space.” Xander said and held John’s hand, John taking to swinging it eagerly.

“Can we get a dog?”

“What?” Xander laughed and looked at John. John looked back up to him, smiling.

“If we move in together, can we get a dog? Or a cat. Actually, a cat may be better because cats are fluffier, and they are also quieter.”

Xander wasn’t particularly fond of cats. They had no sole purpose in life and therefore, in his eyes, were considered useless. Dogs, however, were intelligent and able to track things many others couldn’t. Xander preferred dogs. “Maybe we should talk about this later on in our relationship.”

“Okay. I’m just going to be excited forever now.”

“That’s okay.” Xander said and kissed his forehead again.

* * *

At around 12, the parade started fully and Xander regrouped with his friends. He introduced John, who nodded simply, as his General. His friends appeared to be suspicious, but they didn’t mention it. They began walking the streets of Clivesdale, getting lost in the aura of the scene. John held Xander’s hand tightly and looked up to him occasionally. “Are you having fun?” Xander asked and John nodded. He’d put his ear defenders on but could still hear Xander.

“So much fun!” John said and bounced up, looking around. “So, this ends in Hatchetfield right?”

“Yes, it does, and it’ll end somewhere near HQ, so I can take us back to your place once we walk past it.”

“That sounds good.” John nodded and continued to walk before John tugged on Xander’s hand. “I want to kiss you.”

“Hmm?”

“I want to kiss you! Right now!” He said. Xander smiled.

“Do you want me to lift you up so we can keep walking?”

“Yes.” John said and jumped into Xander’s arms. They both smiled and Xander tucked a loose strand of hair behind John’s ear. “Fuck what they think, fuck what anyone thinks, I wanna kiss you right here right now.”

“Nobody’s stopping you.” Xander said and kissed him gently, keeping him settled on his hip. John kissed him back and they could both feel each other’s smiles radiating on to the other. Eventually, they heard a call from beside them.

“ _What_ are you doing here?!” Someone said. Xander immediately set John on the ground and they looked over, to see two of the younger agents at PEIP by the names of Jason Ives and Casey Foxx. Casey was on Jason’s back and Jason was smiling.

“Ah, look, my favourite agents.” John said, his smile twitching into a small frown for a while before Jason spoke up.

“Sir, we aren’t gonna out you to the precinct. Do that shit in your own time. And we also won’t tell Schaffer that Xander is actually Caroline.”

“How did you-!?” John asked but Jason laughed.

“She told us. We’re all close with each other.” Casey said and waved to Xander. “Hey! Hey, John, guess what!”

“It’s General McNamara to you, Private.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, the four of us booked the day off, we’re here to party. Guess what, John?!”

“What, Private.” John sighed, leaning into Xander’s arm.

“Jason didn’t blow anything up all day!”

“Didn’t? Or hasn’t.” Xander asked, chuckling as he spoke.

“Well, until about two minutes ago, and then we ran and now we’re here!” Jason said and set Casey on the ground. “Anyway, we’re gonna see you at work! Have fun with John, _Caroline!”_ Benny laughed and pulled Casey deeper into the crowds. John looked at them.

“That went surprisingly better than I thought.”

“Oh, hush, John. Jason and Casey are essentially your children.” He said and smiled as John leaned up to kiss him again. They got themselves lost in the crowd. They didn’t have to think for a little while. They were okay, everything was okay, and _John_ was okay.

**Author's Note:**

> he do be liking tiny rainbows tho


End file.
